


What Comes After the Storm

by regnbaggen



Series: I'm Not a Stranger to The Dark [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Dick Grayson is a Ray of Sunshine, Fluff, Gen, Good Sibling Jason Todd, Jason Todd Swears, Kid Dick Grayson, Protective Jason Todd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regnbaggen/pseuds/regnbaggen
Summary: They go to the zoo on a Tuesday, mostly because it's the least busy day and neither Dick nor Jason enjoyed crowds. Dick's eyes widen as he sees the big gates leading into the Zoo and the smells and sounds of animals hit him, causing his memories to go back to the circus. The circus where life and happiness was endless.Dick and Jason decide to spend some time at Gotham's Zoo and things don't go quite as planned.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd
Series: I'm Not a Stranger to The Dark [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105457
Comments: 17
Kudos: 104





	What Comes After the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Get in loser we're going to the Zoo!

It takes a couple of weeks for Dick to fully heal after everything that happened in Maryland. The small amount of healing factor that the Court had left in him was the only reason for him not dying after the bullets and both Alfred and Jason lectured him for those weeks. Alfred had scolded him while bringing him tea and elephant-shaped cookies and Jason had told him that he was a badass while being a complete idiot while stealing some of his cookies.

Talon had sort of disappeared from Dick's mind after he'd gotten back to the manor and Bruce had tried to talk to Dick about him becoming Talon but Jason had kind of told Bruce to shut up and to leave Dick alone. Dick didn't really mind except the harsh wording. He didn't want to think about Talon, he still remembers Talon's hate towards him and the way Talon had tried to force him to kill people even as Dick was the one in control. Still, Talon was sort of gone now so maybe everything was back to normal again. 

"Hey whatcha watching?" Jason walks into the living room where Dick's currently _supposed_ to watch a documentary about seahorses and not thinking about what had happened.

"Seahorses." Dick answers as Jason sits down next to him, wrapping an arm around Dick's shoulders.

"They look weird as hell." Jason states as he takes a handful of Dick's cereal, Dick's almost forgot about the bowl in his lap.

Alfred had come and told him to try and eat something. 

"Do you- you met him." Dick manages after a couple of moments and Jason turns to look at him.

"Who?"

"You know... _him_." Dick manages, not wanting to say his name. 

It was okay to think about Talon, but Dick isn't sure that he'd want to say that name again, what if Talon decided to come back? To take over again.

"Yeah, what do you want to know Dickie?" Jason asks, stealing another handful of the cereal.

"Is he... did he scare you?" Dick asks, eyes plastered on the screen in his best try to avoid Jason's look.

"Nah, he was okay, maybe a bit demanding but okay. You scared of me?" Jason asks and Dick closes his eyes.

"Not of you, but maybe of that _thing_ in you." Dick answers after some time and Jason sighs.

"Dickie, I'm-"

"Todd! Have you told Grayson of your latest idea? Father has accepted it." Damian's voice interrupts Jason and Dick turns to see him in the doorway.

"What idea?" Dick asks, turning back to Jason.

"I didn't ask for his permission _brat_." Jason sneers and Damians tuts.

"Anyway, I think your idea sounds both dull and mindless but it doesn't surprise me since it's coming from you Todd. Perhaps Grayson will come to enjoy it either way since he's childish enough for that type of activity." 

"Shut the fuck up demon." Jason glares and Dick scowls.

"Don't swear and don't call him that and Damian don't talk down to Jason, it's not nice." Dick states and both of them look down at their feet wearing matching scowls.

Neither one is going to apologise but hopefully they'll stop being mean to each other, at least when Dick's around them.

"Anyway, I thought that we could hang out at the zoo sometime next week if you want to." Jason shrugs and Dick's eyes light up.

"Like where there's animals?!" Dick asks, hands grabbing onto Jason's arm.

"Yeah squirt, they even got elephants." Jason answers and Dick's whole body becomes light.

"Really?" Dick asks, looking up at Jason and Jason's face turn into the same fond look he's had for Dick since they were at Linden.

"Really." 

Dick can hear Damian huffing at them but he ignores him and jumps up into Jason's lap instead, winding his arms around Jason's neck instead.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" 

Jason chuckles and hugs Dick back, muttering something about it not being a big deal.

.

They go to the zoo on a Tuesday, mostly because it's the least busy day and neither Dick nor Jason enjoyed crowds. Dick's eyes widen as he sees the big gates leading into the Zoo and the smells and sounds of animals hit him, causing his memories to go back to the circus. The circus where life and happiness was endless.

"Wow! Where should we go first?" Dick asks, one hand clutching Jason's leather jacket-covered arm.

"I don't know, where you want to go first?" Jason asks and Dick looks down at the map Jason's got.

"I wanna see the sloth! Oh and look they have hyenas!" Dick points at the different places on the map and Jason's face turns almost awkward and he starts scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah I don't think the hyenas are there, I think they were moved." Jason states and Dick shrugs.

"Oh okay, but maybe we can go to the sloth first and then the elephant? They're almost next to each other and there's giraffes and lions after the elephant!" Dick says excitedly and Jason nods.

They go to the sloth first and Dick stares at it while it hangs upside-down off of a branch, eyes closed and face peaceful.

"Wow, it almost looks like you on Mondays!" Dick smiles over at Jason and Jason huffs, ruffling Dick's hair.

They pass the chimpanzees and Dick tries to talk to them but they ignore him. They're not at all like the ones in the Madagaskar movie and Jason laughs when Dick informs him of that. They pass the empty hyena place and Jason scratches the back of his head while looking almost guilty.

They continue to walk and Dick suddenly spots the elephant place and his heart stops.

It's her.

He takes off running before Jason can stop him and easily climbed over the fence, managing to get on the inside. 

"Zitka!" Dick smiles at her and she turns towards him, letting out a confused and angry sound, stomping towards him to scare him off but Dick raises his arms.

"Zitka it's me! It's Dick!" Dick says and Zitka stops, her dark brown eyes watching him before she runs towards him with a new intent.

Jason's shouting behind him but Dick ignores him, Zitka won't hurt him. She'd never hurt him.

Her trunk touches his face and Dick laughs, tears shining in his eyes. She lets out a happy sound, trunk going around his body and he hugs her back.

"I missed you so much!" Dick cries against her.

She lets out another sound and Dick closes his eyes. He can almost hear the music from the circus, the smell of peanuts and popcorn. He remembers showing her his tricks, the first time he manages to do a quadruple flip and the times when she hugged him when he scraped his knees while trying out a new trick. 

"I love you, I love love love you." Dick whispers against her before letting her trunk go and stepping back.

"Hey squirt, you gotta get out of there. The zoo doesn't really accept anyone inside of the dens." Jason's voice causes Dick to turn and see him along with five security guards and three scared-looking employees. 

Zitka lets out an angry sound, her trunk pulling him backwards as she tries to protect him.

"Zitka it's okay, that's Jason! Look he's my brother!" Dick points towards Jason and Jason sends her an unimpressed wave.

She sends him the same unimpressed look but she lightens her hold on Dick and Dick kisses her again before climbing back around to Jason who is quick to embrace him.

"You're crazy squirt, fucking insane." Jason mutters into Dick's hair and Dick laughs.

"She remembers me!" Dick smiles and Jason huffs.

"She sure does."

"Excuse me, but you can't just walk into the den. The animals can be dangerous and-"

" _Fuck off_ , he knows her from before. She was part of his old circus." Jason interrupts a young man with big glasses and Dick spots his name tag being upside-down.

"I'm sorry, I just missed her. When did she get here?" Dick asks and the man points to the plate of information.

Dick looks down and Jason helps him with the more complicated words. 

She'd been put here after they circus had left, apparently most of the animals had been put here, even the tigers and the lions. Dick hadn't been that close to them but he had known Zitka and knowing that she was right here with him made something warm appear in his chest again. It felt as if he'd gotten a part of him back again, like another piece of the puzzle is put in place.

.

They stay with her for the remainder of the day. Dick's allowed back inside her den after a long debate between Jason and the employees and Jason meets her and Zitka whacks him with her trunk before petting his head. Dick gets to feed her and he shows her some flips and she pats his head too. 

The time stretches and suddenly it's closing time for the zoo.

That's when Dick cries. He cries and hugs Zitka, refusing to leave. He can't leave her, what if she's gone the next time he visits? What if he's never able to visit her again.

"Dickie it's going to be okay, we'll come back and you can be with her again, okay?" Jason tried but Dick's sobbing, feeling close to dying. This is what it felt like, when his parents fell, this feeling of something being ripped from him, something so valuable.

"No! No I won't leave her again, I can't!" Dick sobs but Zitka is suddenly pushing him towards Jason, her eyes gentle but firm, just like Alfred's, telling him to listen to Jason.

"I can't-" 

"C'mon I got something for you, look." Jason holds him close and pulls forward a stuffed elephant. "See, mini-Zitka check." Jason states and Dick sniffles but takes it.

The stuffed elephant has the same kind eyes as her and Dick shows Zitka mini-Zitka and Zitka pats the stuffed animal as confirmation. She pats Dick one last time before pushing him back towards Jason.

"When did you get this?" Dick croaks and Jason pulls him up in his arms and carries him out of Zitka's den.

"When you were busy feeding her, damn it took like a whole hour. No wonder she's so fat." Jason smirks and Dick lets out a squeak.

"She's not fat!" 

Jason laughs and Dick winds his arms around Jason's neck while still clutching mini-Zitka, he buries his head into Jason's shoulder and lets Jason carry him the whole way home.

.

Once they get home Alfred tells them in a strict voice to go and shower since they smell like elephant and "will make the whole manor turn into a zoo." Once they're washed they get to eat dinner by the tv and Dick tells the whole family about their trip and about Zitka.

It's the first time he's opened up to the whole family about something in his past. He tells them about how she'd catch him with her trunk when he was around three-four years old, he tells them about how they'd sneak away from the circus to watch the stars, how he'd hide underneath her when he was playing hide and seek with his parents. He talks until tears are running down his face and Jason has to pull him into his lap as Dick starts crying for a second time. Jason holds him and rocks him gently and surprisingly Bruce suddenly starts talking.

He begins to talk about memories about his parents and a dog he'd had when he was younger called Ace. Dick slowly stops crying, still clutching Jason's now soaked shirt but listens to Bruce's stories. 

It feels a bit better and when Dick goes to sleep while Jason's out on patrol, he pulls out mini-Zitka and tells her about everything she's missed. He skips the worst parts because he doesn't want her to worry but she seems to understand most of it and he falls asleep with her clutched in his arms, vowing to never let her go.

**Author's Note:**

> So... I'm back from a depressive episode which is the reason for not posting anything except for a depressed story lol. This is, once again, far from my best work but I'm just happy that we're back on track and hopefully I can continue this with less bumps along the road.  
> I've got some awesome stuff prepared, you just hang tight!
> 
> Stay safe and eat some fricking cake!  
> Kudos and Comments are always appreciated and help me realise that my stories aren't shit!


End file.
